Railway draft rigging



Jan. 23, 1923.

J. F. OCONNOR.

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING.

FILED MAY 26. 1920.

Patented dan. 23, i923.

ist fr arent keine.

JOHN n. ocONNOBfy ononioaeo, ILLINOIS, AssieNoa lro WILLIAM H. MINER, or CRAZY. NEW YORK.

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING.

Application filed May 26,

To a-ZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCONNOR, a citizen of United States, residing atChicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railway Draft Riggings, of which the following is a full, clear, conciseyand exactdescription; reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This inventionrelates to improvements in railway draft riggings.`

'In the art ofrailway draft riggings7 one of the common types of so-called attachments has involved the use of removable or detachable horizontally extending keys, some of which have been subjected to the loads occasioned by the butfing and pulling shocks. Some of` these attachments have employed One'key in addition to the usual coupler key andl Others have employed two such additional keys, one to sustain the buit and themother to sustain the draft loads, The key ,type of attachments forI draft riggings possesses certain,A advantages, particularly with respect to vthe detachability or removabilityof all the parts vto facilitate inspection, repairs, etc. The key type of attachments however has given. rise to a serious objection because of the fact that the keys. when subjected to excessive or abnormal loads, `have a tendency to bend or buckle, thus destroying the eiiiciency of the draft rigging and ma king it diilicult to remove the keys when desired. The size of the keys which can be employed in draft riggings is, of course, llimited by practical considerations` particularly the amount of metal which can be c'ut out ofthedraft sills, with the result that thestandardkey now is generally made offa oro'sssectifonwGMXl-" orig". The

reason keys, in draft vriggings heretofore, have failed under excessive loads isndue totI the lfactfthat the keys arefsupported at their ends'inyor'at the sills and the )loads are ap-l plied central-,ly of the Vkeyfwhich thus permits oflarge bending moments being'l imposed upon the keys. j

The object of my invention is to provide a draft rigging ofthe so-called key attachment type wherein is retained all of the advantages of` the key type of attachments heretofore Vobtainable and wherein I eliminate-the objections heretofm'ev found infatltach-mentsy of saidtype 4 1920. Serial No. 384,443S.

More speciically, the object of my invention is to provide a draft rigging employing attachments of the key type wherein the keys that sustain the shocks from the gear proper are made practicallyfree from any bending moments and are subjected merely to shearing strains which' are well within safe limits of shearing strains which keys. of the standard type are adapted to `sustagirn without substantial or appreciable injury.V

The ,invention furthermore .COIlSstsg in the improvements in the partsand devices and in the novel combinations of the parts and devices herein shown, described and made the subject matter of claim.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a part elevational vertical section, part side elevation of a portion of a railway` draft rigging showing my improvements in connection therewith. And Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view corresponding substaltially to the line 2,--2 oif Figure l, the shock absorbing mechanismproper being s hown'in plan.,

In said drawing, 10410 denote channelshaped center or draft sills of a railway car spaced the usual` standard distance apart, said sills being provided with afront set of longitudinally extending key slots llfl] and a second set of longitudinally extending key slots 12-1-2. Mounted between the draft sills and rigidly secured thereto is a burh'ing or abutment block 13 adapted to sustain the butling shocks. VVherethe sills are slotted, the webs of the channels` are reinforced by correspondingly slotted plates lli- 14 riveted to the sills on the outer sides thereof.

The, drawbar Y15 is of standard type havingT `a transversely eigtending slot `16 to ac commodate the so-,called coupler key4 1 7' which eistends throughelongated slots. 18 inv the arms ofa horizontal yoke 19 and through lthe sill slots ll. In normal position Yof the parts, thekey "17 isllocat'ed substantially `centrally ofthe sill slots` lland correspond- Vend walls 29-29.

minimum the bending moments on the key 17 travels freely within the slots 18 without any load during buffing action. The key 17 held against accidental removal by any suitable means as for instance the cotters Vithin the yoke 19 I have illustrated a well known type of friction gear designated generally by the reference A, said gear being of the friction type and bearing` at its rear end against a follower 23 which` is slotted on its side so as to be supported by the yoke and at its front end bearing against a front follower block 24. The follower block 24 will preferably be in the form of a casting and of substantiall hollow rectangular boxlike form. aid follower block is provided with top wall 25, bottom wall 26, front wall 27, rear wall 28, and Said end walls 29 are slotted to accommodate a second or draft key 30 which extends horizontally through said block and through the sill slots 12 and corresponding slots 1n the reinforcing plates 14;. The inner faces ofthe front and rear walls 27 and 28 of the block will preferably be grooved as indicated at 31 to accommodate the edges of the key 30 as clearly shown in Figure l. As will be seen from an inspection of Figure 2, the key 30 is nor mally located at the forward ends of the slotsV l2 andwill bear against the webs of the sills and the alined portions of the plate la indicated at 32-32, said'portions of the sills acting as front stops in conjunc tion with the key 30 as will be understood. As shown clearly in Figure 2, the block 24 is made of a width substantially equal to the space betweenfthe draft sills lso that the outer walls or portions of the block will slide back and forth on the inner faces of load will be transferred to the block from the shock absorbing mechanism proper cen-Y trally of the block and, because of the construction just described, this load will be transmitted from the block to the key not only atthe center thereof but at the outer ends thereof directly adjacent the sills; In this manner. the key 30 is relievedV of subl stantiallyfall bending moments and is subject only to shearing strains because of the to accommodate the arms of the yoke 19, said slots being sufficiently enlarged, laterally, to permit the block being slipped over the enlarged ends 20 of the yoke arms. The armsl of the yoke 19 will also be slotted' as indicated at 3er-34C to accommodate the key 3() and permit its movement rearwardly l with respect to the yoke while the latter is being held during buffing action.

Although I have herein shown and dcscribed what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out the invention, the same is merely illustrative and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto. i

I claim: y

1. In a railway draft rigging, the combination with the draft sills and shock absorbinfr means; of a follower block at one end of the shock absorbing means; a horizontally extending key passing through said block and immovable with respect thereto .in a direction parallel tothe center line of the draft rigging, the sills being slotted to accommodate said key and prevent move ment thereof in one direction from normal but allowing it to move in the opposite direction, said block having bearing engagment with said key immediately adjacent 9 the sills on the side of the key nearest the shock absorbing means; and. yoke acting means including, horizontally extending arms on opposite sides of the shock absorbingmeans, said block being provided with slots extending parallel to the axis of the draft rigging to accommodate said members of the yoke acting means.

2. In a railway draft rigging, the combination with draft sills and shock absorbing means; of a rear abutment block disposed between and rigidly secured to the sills; a horizontally disposed yoke adapted to bear at its rear end against said block, said yoke straddling the shook absorbing means; a front follower block vin enga-gcnrent withthe forward end of the shock absorbing means, said follower block being slotted paralleljto the anis of the draft rig-V ging to accommodate the arms of said yoke; and horizontally extending draft key movable under buff passing through slots in said follower block, yoke arms and draft sills, said follower block having bearing err gagement with said key centrally thereof andl near the ends of the key immediately adjacent the inner faces of the sills.

3. As an article of manufacturas follower block for railway draft riggings, said follower block being horizontally slotted transversely to accommodate a keythe walls to acoon'nnodate the arms of horizontally extendinlg yoke acting means, said last named slots extending at right angles to the key slot and intersecting the latter, the said Walls beingl unbroken between said second named slots.

4. As an article of manufacture, a follower block for railway draft riggngs, said follower block being provided With slots near each end thereof to accommodate the arms of a horizontally extending yoke acting means, the body of said block between said slots being continuous,` said block being also provided with a horizontal slot to accommodate a key, said last named slot extending at right angles to and intersecting said rst named slots, whereby the Yfront and rear edges of said key Will be supported near the ends and at the center of the block in both buff and draft.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing l have hereunto subscribed my name.

JOHN F. OCONNOR. Witness:

P.M.Mnmz1o1i. 

